The students at First Year Class 2 had at least gained 2 or even 4 strands increase in their Spirit.

This is specially for Lisa Grayback who had somehow increased her strand from 9 to 13! This is such an incredible achievement in the first three months in the academy considering that she's a commoner who knows nothing about mysticism until she entered the academy.

Vale's other friends also had a decent increase so his same result made the others feel worried about him.

After all, their current young age should be the best time to increase their Spirit. Once they grow older, increasing their Spirit would be more difficult or even close to impossible at some point. This is similar to how the Spell Lights are formed after all.

After Professor Stella Harwin left the classroom, Vale's friends immediately went up to him and comforted him.

"Vale Although you didn't get an increase, it might be due to your high Spirit Strand It's already 25 so increasing it would be more difficult than us with only 10 or so" Chad Bulmung immediately said.

He has 12 Spirit Strands before and has now 14 Spirit Strands. However, he doesn't think too much of it since he has six classmates that have higher strands than him.

"Right, you might need four or five months We might have a stagnant improvement as well if that happened to us" Aubrey chimed in. She wasn't really sure what to say.

"Hey Don't think that Vale would feel dejected because of this You should remember how strong he is already. Even if we reach 25 Spirit Strands, I don't even think I can handle that Slender Zombie." Lisa Grayback immediately added.

Those who were listening to their conversation silently also nodded their heads.

Even Neil who was smiling at Vale's lack of improvement had a stiff smile after hearing this. He also couldn't imagine himself being able to deal with the Zombie even if he gets to learn another Dark Spell or two.

The Slender Zombie's speed was just too much.

It was also equipped with a cheat item, a Holy-Attributed Armor that is basically a bane to all Dark Spellcasters like them. They can only deal with such Mystical Items if they have stronger Dark Spell to the point that Holy Attribute could no longer keep up with its purification power.

Lisa's words certainly made them recall how powerful Vale Chambers was once more.

"Well, at least his Demonic Familiar has already died So he won't be that strong anymore." Neil muttered in a soft voice but everyone in the room heard it.

This includes Vale who suddenly had a cold look on his face. He didn't like Neil's comment and he wouldn't just pass it up

Thud!

The door of the classroom suddenly opened and the next professor came in

It was Professor Shirley Harrison and she immediately felt that something was wrong in the room. She swiftly entered her Phantasm State and realized that Vale is actually in battle mode!

This made her quickly react and triggered her Darkness Manipulation Spell to protect everyone and ensure that no one will get hurt.

"What's going on?" Professor Shirley asked as Vale's gathered Dark Energy and Ghost Hands retreated silently as he also canceled his Phantasm State.

Vale didn't answer and simply looked at Neil once again before he calmly seated on his chair

Professor Shirley squinted her eyes as she noticed that no one is talking.

In the end, she just considered that these guys are playing around. This was not surprising, since this is quite common to someone at their age. After learning a few Dark Spells, she knows that these students were quite excited about using them in real situations.

After confirming that no one was hurt and everyone doesn't seem to have any words to say, she simply reminded them that using Dark Spells without the guidance of Professors or other Academy Officials was prohibited They can only use these spells without the Professors if they are practicing at the Ceremony Hall or the Training Rooms meant for these activities or if they are in a situation where they were forced to cast their spells.

"Alright In today's class, we will start learning about the Mortal Rank Items that are all decent at your current level of strength." Professor Shirley finally said as she continued with her class.

***

Two days later, Vale was still hearing the news about his Spirit Strands that has become stagnant

This was thanks to the Academy Publication Committee which would only publish its Freshmen Edition Newspaper once or twice a month depending on the importance of news they gathered.

Vale was quite stressed because of this even though he didn't mind it at first. After all, he simply can't get used to being talked about by so many people.

"Finally They found different news" Vale muttered after picking up a newspaper.

Luckily, his sufferings stopped after a few days when articles regarding the Twelve Academies Competition started appearing.

They even stopped publishing their Freshmen Edition and just simply published their Main Newspaper and covered all news related to this competition.

This includes plenty of information about the students who will represent the Vermont Academy in the competition. This piece of news was, of course, the hot topic of the Academy for the rest of the month or until the competition ends.

Nevertheless, none of these piqued Vale's interest The Twelve Academies Competition is for sixth-year students and above after all.

It will still be in a few years before it would matter to him so he simply focused on his study and research about the Immortals and Divinity.

However, after the competition, the news article that was published by the Committee stunned many students including Vale.

Apparently, at the end of the competition, it was announced that in three years, or Year 897, several rules will be changed in this yearly event

One of the biggest changes was the fact that fourth-year students will be allowed to participate in this prestigious event!